The more I think about it, the more I think Beast Within is the key. Say an opponent casts Scapeshift and sacrifices 7 Lands to fetch 6 Mountains (basics and non-basics) and a Valakut. All the Lands enter simultaneously and 6 Valakut triggers go on the stack. With the triggers on the stack, I kill a Mountain. The trigger from that Mountain will resolve and I'll take 3 damage. But the triggers from the other 5 Mountains fizzle, since "the ability will do nothing if [my opponent controls] fewer than 5 Mountains other than that new one by the time it resolves" (source).

I might be able to catch an inexperienced pilot with Crumble to Dust, but an experienced pilot will wait until the last second (i.e., fetching them with Scapeshift) to play their Valakut. Crumble may still be worthwhile though ... partly for free wins against less experienced pilots, but mostly because hitting Stomping Ground will leave most decks with only 10 Mountains ... depending on the board state, that will often not be enough for lethal.

1 week ago

Looks pretty similar to the old standard B/W control deck. If you want to make some upgrades to fit the modern format I would lean your removal more towards Fatal Push and Path to Exile instead of Grasp and Ruinous Path. I think it is a pretty creature heavy deck to have sweepers like Languish but if you do want sweepers and cant afford Damnation then you could play Wrath of God which will nab some of the bigger creatures like Reality Smasher. If Duress and Transgress can be upgraded to Inquisition of Kozilek that would be great too. Concealed Courtyard is a fairly cheap way to upgrade the mana base as well. Overall I think its unique to the control decks in modern and is a fun place to start, it just needs a modern makeover to make it a little more on par with some of the decks you are going to run into.

2 weeks ago

Aranan That's some good questions. The first two questions kind of answer eachother. One of my most common targets to search for with Fierce Empath is Regal Force itself, which is also one of the reasons why I play it over Shamanic Revelation. But let's go about it one by one:

Now for Regal Force itself. Often times you'll find yourself with a nearly empty hand pretty early in the game and being in monogreen you don't have a thousand ways to replenish your hand. If you're in a position to draw a lot of cards from either Regal Force or Shamanic Revelation, you're usually also flush with mana. In this case I think the reliability of card draw being just a tutor away is much more important than the barely cheaper cost. There's also a few things to consider: You can cheat it into play with Natural Order, tutor for it with all your tutors, provides a body for Gaea's Cradle, Earthcraft, Greater Good, etc. AND don't forget it also counts itself when it enters the battlefield. So you might be paying 2 more than Shamanic Revelation but you're also drawing 1 extra card.

Now for The Great Aurora, that card is ridiculously good in Titania. You say it doesn't win you the game when you play it, but I honestly can't see how you can possibly lose when you play it. Consider this: Every token you have gets counted when you shuffle it into your library, meaning you'll typically have MANY TIMES more cards drawn from it than your opponents. Second, all lands enter the battlefield UNTAPPED, which means you can easily start casting a whole bunch of spells again immediately after it resolves. Not to mention that you could easily produce a massive amount of mana with something like Gaea's Cradle, cast The Great Aurora, keep some mana floating, shuffle shuffle, drop lands, tap them all, then cast every spell in your hand immediately before ending your turn. I almost always find myself in a position to win on my next turn after casting it. Finally there's also the benefit that it completely erases everyone's board and completely randomizes what they get back, so casting it when you're in a bit of trouble will usually be enough to save your bacon.

It's a pretty typical play for me to cast it with 3-4 mana left floating, draw 20 new cards, drop all my lands into play, tap them all, cast a whole bunch of stuff and end my turn with 60+ power on the board. I also often cast it when I'm stuck in a position where I can't do much. Say my opponent has a Linvala, Keeper of Silence in play, or an opponent just needs to untap to win and I can't get lethal damage through, or they have a Moat in play, etc. The Great Aurora will fix that for you. You COULD always replace it with Tooth and Nail but honestly just don't see it being that much better and also doesn't have the same utility. It's a cheap card, I say try it out and if it's not to your liking replace it with something else.

If you have any other questions or comment I would absolutely love to answer them!

2 weeks ago

@rothgar13: Yeah, the difference between T2 and T3 is massive and the reason she's still never made it in to one of my lists. While she can be used to blank a Reality Smasher and makes the Merfolk matchup slightly less miserable, I don't know that it's enough.

22 land is where I've been at for mono-white; 23 is what I've done for Eldrazi & Taxes since its mana is so greedy. This hasn't caused problems yet but I think it'd take some Karsten-style math to really figure out what's optimal.

Two other things I've been eyeing: Phyrexian Revoker is good against Tron decks and can turn off Devoted Druid until they find a way to remove it. However it is very vulnerable. That's what's stopped me from running it in the past. Linvala, Keeper of Silence is also a powerful hate card, but only hits creatures and at 4 CMC can't fit in the maindeck. She would have to be in the side, which is already pretty cramped. Do you have any experience with these?

I guess I'm mostly interested in shoring up the Counters Company matchup.

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